By allowing the pursuit of money to guide our educational practices, we have miseducated everyone. But there is an alternative. Some of the most intractable problems in schools could be solved if we replaced money with a different goal, one that would be good for all children, both now and in their futures -- the goal of well-being.

This is not to say that I haven't heard this sentiment expressed many times in my 17 years as a teacher. But whenever I hear a teacher express this idea, I push back immediately, and I push back hard, for three reasons.

As a teacher, I can't do my job effectively if my students' critical mental health needs are not met. The 2008 National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence shows that children are more likely than adults to be exposed to violence and crime. How can we possibly expect youth who are facing debilitating trauma to catch up with their healthier peers without adequate care?

However, gratitude does not make every day perfect in our classroom. I still have bad days, where gratitude is hard to find and everything irritates me. But gratitude does help me to become a better teacher. Even on those challenging days, when I write a gratitude list, I feel a little better.

Every time I pick a paper or magazine to read lately, I seem to find someone who appears to want to tell us about the issue of raising kind children. As much as I believe in teaching values such as kindness to our children, there are a few points that I feel are important to add to this debate.

Right then, the computer started calculating. "What's happening?" I asked. "We're getting graded," she explained. "Right now?" My heart chugged in my throat as the seconds ticked by. I covered my eyes with my hands and peeked through my fingers at the little ball circling on the screen.

There's a way that we parents can dispel the myth that only smart people do math. And there's also a way that we parents can combat math phobia. The approach requires work on the part of the parent, but hey, what part of parenting doesn't? Here's what I have in mind.

As educators and parents, we know that our kids will create the future. What skills should they be learning at school and at home to help them along the way? Ferry offers new ways of thinking about parenting and education and the values our children need to attain.

During one of our discussions about gender expectations, one of my senior girls says, "A master key is a key that can open any lock. That's how we treat boys having sex. But, a lock that can be opened by any key is a bad lock. That's how people look at girls." Brilliant. Devastating.

Today, we live in an America that has yet to live up to the constitutional rights granted to all of her citizens. What feels like a spate of young black men's deaths at the hands of police is only a relatively small -- and recent -- example of this. The fight for racial equality in this country continues. Teachers -- as they always have -- stand on the front lines.

As a teacher, the instant validation of publishing a burn rant, might provide some flames to the writer and professor's ego. That's why I advise anyone serious about teaching to spend at least a few years learning that craft.

I make a call out to everyone, not just teachers, to volunteer at their local literacy centers. It doesn't take much time, just a little training and a commitment of a couple hours a week. Become part of the solution and make yourself feel really good.

Please know that both legally and ethically, there are times when I want to say something or agree with you but cannot for a multitude of reasons, usually pertaining to the privacy of another student. I will miss your child for the rest of my life, even if your child was incredibly difficult and made my days long and exhausting.

A recent online kerfuffle raised the question -- yet again -- of whether it is possible for schools to help children of color and children from low-income homes learn to high standards. I'm always a bit surprised that it's still necessary to have this conversation, but I guess it is.

ecently I was thinking about a little boy named Jared who came to live at one of the group homes in Westchester. He was about 5 or 6 years old. We never know the children's back stories, nor their current situations there, except that most of them were orphaned and understandably confused when they first arrive.

Real education reform requires many voices, working on a variety of platforms, and a variety of issues. But the one voice that is consistently missing is the voice of educators. We can change that as a profession.

The most successful children are the ones who are able to take responsibility for things only within their area of control-- and let other things go. Easier said then done. In education, this concept can be an exceptionally ambiguous concept when children are asked to work on a group project.

If grade-span testing were to take the place of annual assessments, educators like myself would lose a critical source of data to help us identify the needs of students and make use of every learning moment.

To all of my precious students: My guess is that all of you will wonder why I am making you take these tests. And the answer is simple. I have to. Our state and federal government say that I have to give these tests to you. That you must take them. And I need you to know how very sorry I am about that.